With construction completed and tropical libations tasted… and tasted... and then tasted some more, Hale Pele was finally ready for its first preview. Over 100 tiki Kon guests were welcomed into Hale Pele on August 5th 2012. It was a sea of Hawaiian shirts amidst the new dark and Primal atmosphere.

The gathered Tiki aficionados from across the country cheered at the announcement of the opening date, August 29th 2012. Get ready for the nation’s next Great Tiki Temple.

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Finally made it out to Hale Pele last night. I had to check out the Mai Tai - very good, served in an Old Fashioned glass with mint sprig and lime hull and just the right amount of ice - and my wife had the Penang Afrididi which was extremely tasty and complex.

We also had some of the Hawaiian bread which is excellent. It comes in large slices, toasted and served with a very flavorful guava jam.

The service is excellent, by the way!

We'll definitely be back - there are a whole lot more drinks on that list that I need to sample.

Long-time lurker, first time poster. I visited Portland with my girlfriend about a month ago, and we had a really great time at Hale Pele. The drinks were absolutely on par with the best of the tiki milieu, the staff was awesome, the decor was great, and the food was tasty (and vegan friendly). We're cocktail geeks, so we went to a lot of cool bars in Portland, but we definitely had the best overall experience at Hale Pele. Definitely a must-visit if you're in Portland.

While waiting for Hale Pele to be immortalized in Locating Tiki, I'll add my thoughts/photos/praise here. In short, Blair and his staff at Hale Pele have knocked it out of the park.

Last year, Val and I made our first trip to Portland and visited Thatch. We liked it so much the first time we made an extra trip back before we returned home. When I saw earlier this year that Thatch was for sale, I at once felt sad (that it may disappear) and happy (that we did get to visit it). The news that Blair had bought the place and was turning it into Hale Pele was most welcome indeed. We'd planned on returning to Portland in 2012 and as luck would have it, we were visiting shortly after the grand opening.

With Hale Pele, it feels like the goodness of Thatch was retained and the quality knob was turned up even higher. Notch up on decor, notch up on cocktails, notch up on the rum selection, and the food...wow. We may have been most surprised by the food and just how high quality it is. I think we tried 2/3 of the cocktail *and* 2/3 of the food menus. As in 2011 we visited twice, spending long evenings at the bar and soaking in the atmosphere. We were treated so well by everyone working there...just a great group of people. I loved being asked something as simple as what my local tiki bar is (shout out to Tonga Hut) and chatting about other great places to visit in Portland and cocktail recipes.

I fear my praise of Hale Pele is not effusive enough. But make no mistake, Hale Pele feels special. You can see it in some of the details in the photos below. We just missed the launch of the spirits list, but I guess that's just another reason to venture north. If you're even thinking of a trip to the northwest, schedule in a stop at Hale Pele. Oh and take a taxi, because you're probably going to want to be there a while.

Mahalo once again to Blair and your staff for making us thirsty tiki travelers feel right at home.

I took my friend, Daniel, along with me and we tried several things off the menu. The pulled pork cooked in falernum was great. I had both a Q.B. Cooler and a Jet Pilot. Both were extremely tasty. Daniel isn't exactly a Tikiphile, and often eschews cocktails in favor of beer and bourbon, but he appeared to enjoy his Missionary's Downfall and Pieces of Eight.